


I Still Love You

by ausfil



Series: Do You Still Love Me? [2]
Category: Westlife
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Apologies, Blow Jobs, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Early Work, Face Slapping, Feels, Fights, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Gay Sex, Getting Back Together, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Lies, Love, Love Confessions, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Oral Sex, Reconciliation, Romance, Sad, Smut, Spanking, Suspicions, True Love, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-06-04 11:02:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6655384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ausfil/pseuds/ausfil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shane and Mark are back together and happy. They work to rebuild their relationship but relationships are hard and Kian causes problems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Still Love You

Shane took a deep breath, staring into his phone at the name ‘Mark’. Another deep breath. _Calm down,_ he told himself before pressing the call button. The rings felt like forever until he finally picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Mark. It’s me.”

“Oh. Shane. Hey.”

A smile crept up on Shane’s lips, listening to the uneasy voice of Mark’s on the other side.

“Is it okay for me to drop by your school today during my lunch break? I… We should talk.”

“Yeah, absolutely.” Shane heard a nervous chuckle. “So can I uh… Can I expect something good?”

“I guess. Yeah. See you soon, Marky.”

“Alright. Seeya.”

Shane quickly hung up the phone and let the tenseness flow out of his body as he dropped back into his office chair. He huffed out another breath before turning his head to face his friend who was chewing on his lips, almost as nervous and edgy as Shane was.

“Jeez, Nicky. Why are _you_ so nervous?” Shane laughed, feeling a bit at ease.

Nicky just shrugged and smiled. “So how was it? Good reaction from him?”

“Yeah. We’ll be alright.”

***

Shane poked his head through the door of Mark’s classroom that was full of students. In the midst of drawing music notes on the board, Mark caught a glimpse of Shane and smiled, trying to focus on the kids but terribly failing.

“Um, alright guys. I have to be out of the room for about ten minutes so until then, I want everyone to try and compose just two bars, okay?”

When the students turned to their books, Mark slipped outside the classroom to meet Shane.

“Hey.” Mark forced a nervous smile.

“Hey, I’m sorry to bother your class.”

“Don’t worry about it. They’ll be fine. We have time to talk.”

Shane nodded and smiled as he looked into Mark’s eyes, then down, feeling his heart flutter at the deep eye-contact. “So uh…” _Damn, why am I so nervous?_ He cleared his throat. “I… I missed you.”

When Shane slowly looked back up again, he was met with a comforting grin spread across Mark’s face.

“I missed you too.”

“But before we do anything, I… you just… need to understand that you… you seriously hurt me.”

Mark pursed his lips in guilt and nodded, waiting for Shane to continue. Shane swallowed hard before opening his mouth again.

“It was really difficult to deal with and um… for a while, I couldn’t even _imagine_ a way to forgive you but… the time that we spent apart, it made me realise how much you mean to me. And I couldn’t just ignore that. I mean, I was a fucking mess during that time. So, I guess you were right. I _did_ go to pick you up at the bar for a reason and… if you genuinely promise that it’ll never happen again… I think I can put it in the past and start on a clean slate.”

“I promise.” Mark immediately replied. “It’ll never ever happen again. I love you, Shay.”

Shane thought for a short moment and then lifted the tip of his lips. “Clean slate it is.”

Mark let out a sigh of relief and quickly looked around to make sure that the corridor was empty. Then he snaked his hands around Shane’s thin waist and leaned forward, taking those lips. Short but tender.

“God, I missed you so much.” Mark whispered, his eyes staring deep into Shane’s.

“Me too, babe.” Shane whispered back.

“I’m so glad I got wasted that night.” Mark cracked a sneaky grin and Shane sweetly chuckled. “So, are you going to move back in with me?”

“If you want me to.” Shane placed his hands on the nape of Mark’s neck, pulling him closer for another gentle kiss.

***

“What the hell is in this box?” Mark huffed, his arms straining at Shane’s heavy boxes.

“I don’t know. Why do I even have so many things?” Shane dragged the last box into the house and collapsed onto the couch with Mark shortly collapsing beside him.

Shane snuggled under Mark’s arms, resting his head on comfortable shoulders. He felt Mark kiss the top of his head and soon, heard the stereo being turned on by the remote. Like last time, ‘I’ll Never Break Your Heart’ came on and Mark hummed along to the familiar tune.

“Was that deliberate?” Shane chuckled.

“Maybe.” Mark displayed a playful grin. “Hey.”

“Hmm?” Shane turned his head to face Mark.

“AJ.”

“Oh god, not again.” Shane groaned and then beamed. “Brian.”

“AJ.”

“Brian.”

“AJ.”

“Brian.”

“Nope. AJ.”

Shane’s lips cracked into a devilish grin before he jumped on Mark and pushed him back to lie down with his head on the couch arm. He confined Mark by putting his knees on either side of him. “I said”, he brushed their lips together, “Brian.”

“Okay.” Mark whispered submissively, losing himself in Shane’s hazel eyes, and began to trail kisses along Shane’s jaw while undoing the jeans and slithering his hand inside to squeeze Shane’s ass. A little moan escaped as Mark’s lips were now on his neck. “Been too long. Wanna fuck you so bad.” Mark mumbled with his lips digging into Shane’s skin.

“Then pants off, Feehily.” Shane growled while tugging at Mark’s belt loops.

They separated for a bit. Mark quickly peeled his clothes off as did Shane. After tossing them aside, Mark crawled up on the couch and on top of his boyfriend who was lying down on his back. He covered his fingers in lube and slowly pushed one inside Shane’s hungry hole, stroking his own cock with the other hand.

It wasn’t long until another two fingers sneaked their way in. Shane closed his eyes and moaned, greedily pushing himself down into the fingers that were thrusting in and out. Mark chuckled at Shane’s eagerness and rolled a condom onto his leaking boner.

“Ready, babe?” Mark crooned.

“Fuck yeah.” Shane puffed, feeling empty as the talented fingers were pulled out of him. He rolled over and propped himself up on all fours, trying to tantalise Mark with his wet hole. “Need you in me now.”

“You’ll just have to wait, won’t you?” Mark smirked, massaging Shane’s ass before smacking each cheek fiercely. “What a slut you are, Filan.”

Shane arched his back in this pleasurable pain. “Harder. Hit me harder!”

Mark didn’t hesitate to oblige. With each slap and sharp sting, Shane let out little moans. Wanting to hear a louder, more obscene one, Mark smirked and grabbed Shane’s balls, squeezing them hard.

“Ah god _damn_!” Shane yelled.

“There we go.”

After giving a light slap to the balls, Mark positioned himself behind Shane and slid into the ravenous entrance. A long moan spilled out from both mouths as Mark gradually forced himself in deeper. Shane clawed at the couch fabric as he dropped down to his elbows with weakening arm strength and dug his head into the armrest. Mark continued to pound so hard, making Shane whimper with every thrust.

Mark reached forward, cupping Shane’s balls before shifting his hand to stroke the length and matching the rhythm to his hammering hips.

“Ohhh fuck!” Shane cried in incredible rapture as he eagerly rocked along in an attempt to increase the speed to his likings. Which Mark didn’t protest to. He gathered momentum, conforming to Shane’s lead. Shane’s obscene shrieks were at least an octave or two higher than his normal voice. “Mark, I think I’m gonna – ah, God…!”

“Come for me.” Mark puffed, slapping down on Shane’s butt cheeks again.

Shortly, with a husky scream, Shane sprayed onto the couch, not long before Mark came into Shane’s ass and pulled out.

Heavy breaths filled up the room as they both plumped down on the couch, the energy being drained out of them.

“You’re still amazing, you know that?” Shane panted with a content grin spread across his face.

“Because it’s _you._ ” Mark tangled his fingers in Shane’s locks, pulling him closer for a peck on the forehead. “I’m really glad you’re back, Shay. I don’t even know how I survived this house without you here.”

“My solo flat wasn’t exactly a treat either. I’m glad I’m back as well. Missed you too much.”

“Love you.”

“Ditto.”

***

“Hello?” Shane craned his neck as he opened the door to the music staffroom.

“Oh Shane! Wow, I haven’t seen you around here in a while.” Janet, Mark’s co-worker, came to greet him with a welcoming smile.

“Yeah, sorry.” Shane gave her a peck on the cheek. “It’s great to see you.”

“Great to see _you_. What brings you here?” Janet narrowed her eyes and playfully gasped. “Are you and Mark back together?”

Shane smiled and scratched his head, feeling shy. “Yeah, we are.”

“Oh thank god! You two are so cute together.”

Just when Shane was about to reply, the school bell rang and Janet hurried to gather her folder.

“Mark is free this period so I’ll be out of your hair. It’s great to see you, Shane.”

“Yeah, you too Jan.”

After she walked out, Shane settled down in Mark’s chair and looked around his messy desk. This desk was always so disorganised and Shane would come in occasionally to help Mark clean it up a bit. Before he could get a chance to do that, the staffroom door opened.

“Shane?”

“Hey, babe.” Shane grinned, giving his boyfriend a calm kiss.

“What are you doing here?”

“Just, I don’t know, surprise? My one hour lunch break, I figured I would spend it here. I always liked it that way.”

“Well, you’re always welcome here. You know that.”

Mark wrapped his arms around Shane’s waist, pulling him in for another, deeper kiss. He snaked his steady hands around Shane’s back before trailing down, stuffing one hand down the back of Shane’s suit pants, running the tip of his slow and teasing middle finger along Shane’s crack. Shane curved his lips and broke off the kiss.

“Seriously? Here?”

“Why not? It’s empty. No one ever comes into the music staffroom anyways. And all the other teachers have class right now. Come on.” Mark cheekily raised the tip of his lips.

“Yeah, remember last time we thought that and almost got caught? A bloody student came to ask you a stupid question.” Shane laughed.

“Oh yeah, that was the worst.” Mark let go of Shane and sat down on his chair. “But the times we didn’t get caught, they were the best.”

“Remember when we were in high school and we used to make out behind the gym building?” Shane smiled and sat on Mark’s table cross-legged, facing his boyfriend. Placing his hands gently on Mark’s jaw, Shane lifted it up and looked far into his eyes.

“And Kian didn’t even know that you were gay then? He always thought that we were just smoking or something. Hey, you know, we have a gym building here. Care to relive some memories?”

“You’re still just a horny little teenager, aren’t you?” Shane laughed. “It’s dangerous. What about this? After I finish work, _you_ will be waiting for me in _my_ underwear and we can… well, fuck.” Both of them chuckled.

“Sounds like a plan.”

***

After the remainder of the day at the office, Shane hurriedly got home and when he opened the door, his jaw dropped.

“Wow, you… you look… wow.”

There Mark was, looking so gorgeous, standing with nothing on his body but Shane’s purple briefs. A slight bulge already existed. Shane slowly paced towards him and rubbed the bulge over the soft fabric, feeling the cock harden under his hands and listening to Mark’s very deliberate erotic moans. Feeling himself harden a little too.

“Want me to suck you?” Shane displayed a lopsided grin.

When Mark nodded, Shane tossed his shoulder bag aside and immediately dropped to his knees, pulling the briefs down to Mark’s ankles. He lifted his hand to tickle Mark’s balls as he took the dick into his mouth, just sucking on the tip for now.

Mark tangled his fingers in Shane’s crunchy hair and didn’t want to take his eyes off of the head bobbing against him. Watching his boyfriend suck him with a suit on… it was oddly sexy. Just so fucking sexy.

Shane’s talented tongue swirled and his mouth engulfed more and more of Mark with every bob of his head. The fingers continued to play, adding to the bliss that made Mark feel like he could almost pass out.

_Ring Ring._

“Don’t answer it.” Shane quickly spoke before swallowing the hardness in front of him again and Mark couldn’t refuse. The ringing stopped but within a few seconds, it rang again, ruining the mood to a highly annoying extent. Mark swore underneath his breath and tapped Shane on the shoulder.

“Wait, babe.”

Shane pulled his head back an inch. “What, you serious?”

“Sorry.” Mark ran to get the phone and hesitated when he saw the name that appeared. He took a quick, secret glance at Shane before walking into another room and taking the call.

Hearing the door close, Shane sighed and pushed himself up from the floor. He licked his lips to get another taste of Mark and plumped down on the couch, crossing his arms in discontent. After a couple of minutes, Mark came back out while trying to get the underwear back over him.

“Hey, um, I think I need to head out for dinner.”

“What? But… but I brought dinner. I bought your favourite.” Shane’s face sagged as he pointed to a bag of take-away food. “We even have wine.”

“I’m so sorry, honey… I wish I could stay but the um, the… the head teacher for music wants to see me for some school concert thing.” Mark scratched his head, avoiding Shane’s eyes in guilt.

“Can’t he see you tomorrow at school? You see each other every day. Why now?”

“I don’t know.” Mark sat down beside Shane, running his hands through his hair. “I’m really sorry.”

“Well, if it’s work… I guess you have to go.” Shane failed to hide the disappointment. Not that he really intended to.

“I’ll be back before you fall asleep, okay?” Mark kissed Shane on the forehead and stood up to put on some clothes. “Hopefully, this guy dies down before I get there.” Mark pointed at his erection and smiled in an attempt to make Shane laugh.

Shane half-chuckled, not really looking at it or at Mark. Just stroking his tie and staring at nothing.

“Don’t be mad, baby. Please? We can have a romantic dinner tomorrow. I promise. We can have _your_ favourite dish. I’ll cook it myself. Sound good?”

At Mark’s soft fingers touching his cheek, Shane couldn’t hold back a smile. He nodded, looking up at Mark’s eyes.

“Okay.”

“Alright. I’ll see you later, then.”

They shared a short kiss and Mark headed out.

***

Mark sat down at the bar next to the caller when he spotted him.

“I told you to stop calling me.” He spoke with a straight face.

“Hey, come on. Loosen up! Have a drink.”

“No, I brought my car.” Mark pushed the glass away. “You need to stop this. Look at me. Kian.”

“What?” Kian looked up, a drunkenness evident in his eyes.

Mark sighed. “I’m back with Shane.” He saw Kian’s eyes droop a little at that. “I love him. Okay? And if he finds out that you’ve been calling me ever since that night up to this day… I don’t know what he’d do. So you _have_ to stop. Please?”

“But you fucked me. Which means you like me too.” Kian slurred.

“No, it doesn’t. I told you so many times, Kino. What we did, it was… it was just _one_ night. I need you to understand that.”

Kian shook his head, pouring another drink into his glass. “What if I don’t? _You_ were the one that came onto me, even when you knew that I liked you, and you’re expecting me to just forget about it so you can go back to fucking your _boyfriend_? Don’t think so.”

“That’s your problem, Kian. And I mean, what the hell did I know? I was really drunk that night.”

“So that doesn’t make it your fault?” Kian fumed and glared with eyes like daggers.

“No, I’m… I’m not saying that.”

Mark scrubbed his face and tried to look away from Kian’s eyes that reflected his heartbreak. He felt like an asshole but knew that he had to get Kian away from him to stay with Shane. That was all he wanted, really.

“Look, I’m just saying that we both made a mistake and it’s time to move on. I’m sorry that I don’t like you in the same way but I’m in a relationship. I don’t want to mess it up, Kian. I really don’t. I love Shane.”

At Mark’s blunt words, Kian felt his throat clump. “Shane…” Kian sneered and threw a drink into his mouth. “If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have even known him. _I_ was the one who fancied you in high school, not Shane.”

“You’re wrong.” Mark uttered out of spite. “We were together in high school as well. We just didn’t tell you.”

“…Wait, what?” Kian looked back up with tears of disbelief invading his eyes.

Mark felt his heart weaken a little at those red eyes and hesitated before continuing.

“Shane was gay since high school but… he wasn’t so comfortable with it then. So we didn’t tell you. I’m sorry.”

“I thought I was your friend.” Kian mumbled, shocked with betrayal.

“You were, Kian, you were. And you still can be.” Mark encouraged. “I really miss hanging out with just the three of us. Don’t you?”

Kian bitterly scoffed. “Shane fucking hates me.”

“But he misses you.” Mark crooned, stroking Kian’s hand with his gentle fingers. “And _I_ miss you, Kian. As a friend. I hate what happened with us three. We used to be inseparable.”

Kian watched Mark’s fingers on his own and felt his heart beat faster. For a second, he thought about apologising; maybe rebuild their friendship and keep Mark by his side to at least look at him every day but feeling Mark’s touches on him again…

“No. Stop. I can’t do it.”

Kian retracted his hand and shot up from the bar stool, wiping his embarrassing tears away from his face.

“You can’t just… just expect me to get over shit like that and become friends with you two again. It doesn’t work that way. Do you have any idea how it feels to tell someone that I love them and hear them saying that they love someone else? You don’t know. You don’t know anything. Fuck you, Mark.”

“Kian, I-“

“No. Fuck you. Fuck you and fuck Shane. Just…” Kian shook his head, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. “You’re really selfish. You know that?” The drunken blonde sighed and stormed out of the bar, leaving Mark alone and feeling like shit.

***

“Hey, you’re back.” Shane beamed, switching the TV off as Mark walked through the door and sat beside him. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just tired.” Mark rubbed his eyes and faked a yawn.

“So, everything alright with the concert?”

Mark nodded, hating himself for lying but it felt like the right thing to do. He didn’t want anything to get in the way of their relationship again. “Of course. We just set dates and… and auditions and… y’know, stuff like that.”

“Cool. When is it? Can I come and watch?”

“Oh we didn’t really like… finalise it or whatever yet but when we do, of course you can come.” Mark kissed Shane’s cheek and stood up. “I’m going to take a shower, okay?”

The older lad nodded, oblivious to what was going on in Mark’s head, and turned the TV back on.

***

Shane walked into Mark’s staffroom without knocking, knowing that it was empty. He sat down on Mark’s chair with his brown paper bag and buried his face into the sandwich that he bought, just waiting for his boyfriend to finish class. Only a couple of minutes.

_Brrr._

Shane dug underneath all the sheets and books that were spread across the table and found Mark’s phone. The screen was lit up. One new message.

**Can I see you tonight? I really need to talk to you. Sorry about last night. I shouldn’t have walked out like that. Call me.**

Bringing the phone closer to him, Shane frowned, reading the text again. His eyes trailed up the screen to find the name ‘Kian’ and he swore under his breath. _Last night? But the school concert…_ Suddenly, he felt like crying.His mind travelled a mile. Before he could think about what to do the bell rang and within a couple of minutes, Mark turned up.

“Hey, babe. Lunch break?” Mark smiled casually.

Shane just nodded, putting his sandwich down and not really responding to Mark’s kiss.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Of course. Yeah.” Shane forced a smile and handed Mark a sandwich that he bought for him. “Chicken and cheese.”

“Oh wow, thanks.” Mark immediately dug into it.

“Hey, um… so the concert.” Shane intently observed Mark’s facial expression and definitely saw a halt in his actions for a split second. Mark looked up and tried to act casual. “Did you talk about it this morning with the head? Like the final dates and stuff.”

“Yeah, briefly though.” Mark focused his gaze on the sandwich.

“So when is it?”

“Oh um, dunno yet. I’ll probably find out soon.”

Then the phone vibrated again. When Mark saw the text, he kind of freaked out and snatched the phone quickly into his hands, typing like fire and putting it away.

“Who is it?” Shane asked, trying to restrain his anger and suspicions.

“Oh it’s nobody. Just… someone from the history faculty. She’s bored.” Mark looked down at his sandwich – that suddenly seemed very unappealing – and looked back up again, putting on a flirtatious smile. “But I’d rather be here with you.”

“That’s sweet.” Shane forced a smile.

***

“Hey, welcome home.” Mark smiled when Shane walked through the door, settling down next to Mark who was watching TV… all dressed.

“You going somewhere?”

“Oh um, yeah, sorry. A mate just wanted to meet for a drink.”

“Who?” Shane asked with his eyes focused on the TV.

“Just… a guy from work.”

Shane sighed at that answer, feeling his chest tighten.

­­­­­­­­­­“What’s Kian doing, texting you?” Shane spat without much thinking. He was too tired for games.

“Wh… what?” Mark’s heart sank.

“Don’t act like you don’t know. I saw the text when I was at your school. You… you said that you never even see him anymore.” Shane’s let out a shuddering breath. This situation was too painfully familiar.

Mark took a deep breath, scrubbing his face before looking back up at Shane whose desperate eyes were just begging for answers.

“I… Ever since the night that we… y’know,” Mark awkwardly waved his arms around, gesturing, “he has been calling me a lot. Telling me that… he liked me since high school and that… that he still does.”

“Fucking Egan...” Shane muttered, clenching his fists. “So, what, you lied to me this whole time?”

“I had no other choice, Shay, I-“

“Yes. You. Did. You know what it was? Telling me the fucking truth.” Shane stood up from the couch and looked down towards Mark, following his eyes when Mark stood up too.

“I knew you were going to react like this so I didn’t tell you. I didn’t think it would be a big deal. It’s not like anything happened.”

“Really? Can you honestly tell me that you two didn’t share _one_ kiss since then?”

“Yes, I can.” Mark frowned, hurt at Shane’s distrust. “I swear, nothing happened after that. He just… He just met me a couple of times because he was sad and angry at me for not being with him.”

“Okay, well, you clearly met more than once. It could have been done in one meeting. He could have just screamed his head off at you and then left. Or you could have refused to meet him.”

“Come on, you’re just being unreasonable.”

“Unreasonable? Unreasonable?!” Shane raised his voice a little in frustration. “What, did you expect me to trust you straight away after what you did? It’s still fucking hard for me to believe that… that you’re not going to sneak around again, get drunk and land on top of him. I needed time to do that, Mark. And you still texting and meeting Kian obviously isn’t fucking helping. Put yourself in my shoes for a sec, will you?”

“Believe me, nothing happened! I don’t like him.”

Shane shook his head. “I don’t trust you.”

“I know that you don’t trust me. You don’t think I’ve noticed how you always insist on being together for fucking every single second of the day? I mean, you can have a couple of lunches at your office, Shane. You don’t need to come down to my school every day.” Mark fumed, his built-up disappointment blowing up at once. “ _This_ is why I didn’t tell you. Because you’re that paranoid about me fucking some other guy when I’m actually trying to do my best in making us work again. You’re _suffocating_ me. Will you just fucking let me breathe?!”

Then Mark’s face was forced to the side, a cold and sharp pain stinging in his cheek. He let out a little groan and Shane immediately regretted it, staring at his own twitchy hand. When he looked back up at Mark, tears of guilt were brimming in his eyes.

Mark stood there, a trembling hand covering his red cheek, glaring with eyes filled with shock and anger, betrayal and disappointment.

“I… Mark, I… I’m sorry… I don’t…” Shane whispered in a weak voice.

Mark shook his head, letting out a shuddering breath, and turned around, marching towards the door with a startled hand still on his swelling face.

“Wait, Mark-“

The door swung shut, echoing a large bang.

Shane sighed. Stared at his guilty hand again with shame. His palm was red and stinging but his mind automatically tracked back to Mark’s even redder cheek.

“What the fuck is wrong with me…”

***

“What do you need to talk to me about?” Mark slumped down on the chair next to Kian in the café. He hasn’t seen Kian outside a bar for a while, let alone a _sober_ Kian. He kind of wished that he was in a bar right now as he tried to ignore the constant vibrating of his phone in his pocket.

“I um-“ Kian was forced to stop when he looked up, his eyebrows knitting as he fixated his gaze on Mark’s reddened cheek on a distraught face like thunder. “Are you alright?”

“Oh yeah, I…” Mark rubbed his cheek. “You know, it’s… it’s just cold outside.”

“Not really.” Kian narrowed his eyes in disbelief. He reached out and stroked Mark’s cheek with a soft, gentle touch, staring far into his blue eyes. “You can tell me, Mark.”

Mark nuzzled in Kian’s hand without thinking but quickly pushed it away when he realised what he was doing.

“I just… had a stupid fight with Shane.”

“So he slapped you?” An undertone of anger could be heard from Kian’s restrained voice.

“Uh, yeah. I guess. Yeah.”

Mark felt Kian’s hand snake to the back of his neck, fondling the sensitive skin. Before he could do anything, Kian leaned forward, dampening Mark’s lower lip and softly sucking on the corner of it. Mark gave in for a split second, relishing the feeling of his lips being captivated but he thought quickly enough to push Kian away.

“Don’t.” Mark uttered and removed Kian’s hand. “I’m sorry.”

“But… but you had a fight. He _slapped_ you.” Kian shuffled forward, a hint of urgency in his eyes.

“That doesn’t mean we’re over. I love Shane. More than… more than anything in the world and I don’t want to do anything to ruin our relationship anymore. He slapped me because I was lying to him, because I was being an arse. And I understand him. Because I love him. I was just… angry in that moment.” Kian’s face sagged a little with every word that was flowing out of Mark’s mouth but he didn’t care. He just continued on. “I’m sorry that I don’t feel the same way about you but you can’t keep coming to me. I really need to make it work with Shane. I don’t want to hurt him anymore. He’s too special to hurt.”

Hearing Mark’s sincere words, Kian’s eyes were stinging with tears as he lowered his head in humiliation and eventual acceptance. “Okay, I… I need to go. I’m sorry for everything.” He hastily stood up, jogging out of the café with desperate feet.

***

Mark let out a deep breath before opening the door and inside was Shane, anxiously pacing around the living room with his arms crossed.

“Shane.”

Shane’s head immediately snapped towards the voice and he walked towards Mark through nervous steps. “Mark, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten so mad and I–”

“Shhh.” Mark draped his arms around the brunette, stroking his trembling back. “I’m sorry too.”

Shane lifted his head up, gazing at Mark and soon, his eyes were showing tears. “I’m sorry I hit you.” He croaked with a shaky voice and reached out to rub the cheek.

“It’s okay.” Shane shook his head and at that, Mark grabbed Shane’s hand, holding it close to his chest. “No, it really is, babe. It was my fault. I’m sorry for lying. I… I can’t lose you again. I _won’t_ lose you again. I promise that I won’t lie to you anymore. I really do.” Mark brushed his hand across Shane’s face, wiping the tears away.

Felt at ease when Shane smiled.

And he smiled back.

“So… do you still love me?”

Shane lightly chuckled then closed the gap in between them, falling into a slow and tender kiss.

“I still love you.”


End file.
